Cats can't break streak at Indiana
Was there ever a moment that you really thought Northwestern had a chance at pulling out a win Wednesday night?
NU could never seize the momentum in the game and missed the opportunity to beat a struggling, beatable Indiana team at Assembly Hall, losing 72-63. It was the 34th consecutive loss for Northwestern at Indiana.
"We've hung with this team for awhile -- the last 3-4 times here -- but we just can't put 40 minutes together," coach Bill Carmody said. "I really thought this was a night we could have gotten them.
On the bright side, NU (10-9, 3-5 Big Ten) looked better than it did against a beleaguered Purdue, a team with a multitude of injuries and suspensions.
"I think we did [play better than the win against Purdue]," Carmody said. "We just missed some shots tonight. I think in the first half, we settled for some threes. We just weren't getting in there for layups."
Indeed. NU shot 3-for-15 in the first half from beyond three-point range. The Cats improved in the second half, hitting 5-of-8 threes.
Vedran Vukusic finished with 18 points to lead NU scorers, with Mohammed Hachad scoring 14 and Craig Moore chipping in 11.
Northwestern's defense did not force Indiana into bad shots with the Hoosiers hitting 52 percent from the field on the game and 40 percent from beyond the arc. There needs to be improvement on defense or NU will never be able to compete with the good teams in the Big Ten. And we're not sure Indiana is even one of the good teams.
Michigan State, Northwestern's opponent Saturday, is one of the good teams. It will be a big test.
Comments
Actually, there were a few moments where I felt we could beat Indiana. There was nothing about Indiana's performance last night that made me say, "Man, we're just lucky to be hanging around. The other shoe will drop at any moment."
Was I expecting victory? No, but we did enough good things out there to make me believe--during all but the final 90 seconds--that we could win.
Posted by: Damer | February 2, 2006 08:38 AM